diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index e75434b3ef..a043d55459 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -450,6 +450,12 @@ core.excludesfile::
 	to the value of `$HOME` and "{tilde}user/" to the specified user's
 	home directory.  See linkgit:gitignore[5].
 
+core.attributesfile::
+	In addition to '.gitattributes' (per-directory) and
+	'.git/info/attributes', git looks into this file for attributes
+	(see linkgit:gitattributes[5]). Path expansions are made the same
+	way as for `core.excludesfile`.
+
 core.editor::
 	Commands such as `commit` and `tag` that lets you edit
 	messages by launching an editor uses the value of this
diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
index 564586b943..c6bdeae66d 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
@@ -62,14 +62,21 @@ consults `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file (which has the highest
 precedence), `.gitattributes` file in the same directory as the
 path in question, and its parent directories up to the toplevel of the
 work tree (the further the directory that contains `.gitattributes`
-is from the path in question, the lower its precedence).
+is from the path in question, the lower its precedence). Finally
+global and system-wide files are considered (they have the lowest
+precedence).
 
 If you wish to affect only a single repository (i.e., to assign
-attributes to files that are particular to one user's workflow), then
+attributes to files that are particular to
+one user's workflow for that repository), then
 attributes should be placed in the `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file.
 Attributes which should be version-controlled and distributed to other
 repositories (i.e., attributes of interest to all users) should go into
-`.gitattributes` files.
+`.gitattributes` files. Attributes that should affect all repositories
+for a single user should be placed in a file specified by the
+`core.attributesfile` configuration option (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
+Attributes for all users on a system should be placed in the
+`$(prefix)/etc/gitattributes` file.
 
 Sometimes you would need to override an setting of an attribute
 for a path to `unspecified` state.  This can be done by listing
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bc3c57058f..eadd2d734b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -268,6 +268,7 @@ STRIP ?= strip
 #   infodir
 #   htmldir
 #   ETC_GITCONFIG (but not sysconfdir)
+#   ETC_GITATTRIBUTES
 # can be specified as a relative path some/where/else;
 # this is interpreted as relative to $(prefix) and "git" at
 # runtime figures out where they are based on the path to the executable.
@@ -286,9 +287,11 @@ htmldir = share/doc/git-doc
 ifeq ($(prefix),/usr)
 sysconfdir = /etc
 ETC_GITCONFIG = $(sysconfdir)/gitconfig
+ETC_GITATTRIBUTES = $(sysconfdir)/gitattributes
 else
 sysconfdir = $(prefix)/etc
 ETC_GITCONFIG = etc/gitconfig
+ETC_GITATTRIBUTES = etc/gitattributes
 endif
 lib = lib
 # DESTDIR=
@@ -1502,6 +1505,7 @@ endif
 
 SHA1_HEADER_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(SHA1_HEADER))
 ETC_GITCONFIG_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(ETC_GITCONFIG))
+ETC_GITATTRIBUTES_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(ETC_GITATTRIBUTES))
 
 DESTDIR_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(DESTDIR))
 bindir_SQ = $(subst ','\'',$(bindir))
@@ -1872,6 +1876,8 @@ builtin/init-db.s builtin/init-db.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = \
 
 config.s config.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = -DETC_GITCONFIG='"$(ETC_GITCONFIG_SQ)"'
 
+attr.s attr.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = -DETC_GITATTRIBUTES='"$(ETC_GITATTRIBUTES_SQ)"'
+
 http.s http.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = -DGIT_USER_AGENT='"git/$(GIT_VERSION)"'
 
 ifdef NO_EXPAT
diff --git a/attr.c b/attr.c
index 8ba606c933..6aff6951d3 100644
--- a/attr.c
+++ b/attr.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #define NO_THE_INDEX_COMPATIBILITY_MACROS
 #include "cache.h"
+#include "exec_cmd.h"
 #include "attr.h"
 
 const char git_attr__true[] = "(builtin)true";
@@ -10,6 +11,8 @@ static const char git_attr__unknown[] = "(builtin)unknown";
 #define ATTR__UNSET NULL
 #define ATTR__UNKNOWN git_attr__unknown
 
+static const char *attributes_file;
+
 /*
  * The basic design decision here is that we are not going to have
  * insanely large number of attributes.
@@ -462,6 +465,32 @@ static void drop_attr_stack(void)
 	}
 }
 
+const char *git_etc_gitattributes(void)
+{
+	static const char *system_wide;
+	if (!system_wide)
+		system_wide = system_path(ETC_GITATTRIBUTES);
+	return system_wide;
+}
+
+int git_attr_system(void)
+{
+	return !git_env_bool("GIT_ATTR_NOSYSTEM", 0);
+}
+
+int git_attr_global(void)
+{
+	return !git_env_bool("GIT_ATTR_NOGLOBAL", 0);
+}
+
+static int git_attr_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *dummy)
+{
+	if (!strcmp(var, "core.attributesfile"))
+		return git_config_pathname(&attributes_file, var, value);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static void bootstrap_attr_stack(void)
 {
 	if (!attr_stack) {
@@ -472,6 +501,25 @@ static void bootstrap_attr_stack(void)
 		elem->prev = attr_stack;
 		attr_stack = elem;
 
+		if (git_attr_system()) {
+			elem = read_attr_from_file(git_etc_gitattributes(), 1);
+			if (elem) {
+				elem->origin = NULL;
+				elem->prev = attr_stack;
+				attr_stack = elem;
+			}
+		}
+
+		git_config(git_attr_config, NULL);
+		if (git_attr_global() && attributes_file) {
+			elem = read_attr_from_file(attributes_file, 1);
+			if (elem) {
+				elem->origin = NULL;
+				elem->prev = attr_stack;
+				attr_stack = elem;
+			}
+		}
+
 		if (!is_bare_repository() || direction == GIT_ATTR_INDEX) {
 			elem = read_attr(GITATTRIBUTES_FILE, 1);
 			elem->origin = strdup("");
@@ -499,7 +547,9 @@ static void prepare_attr_stack(const char *path, int dirlen)
 
 	/*
 	 * At the bottom of the attribute stack is the built-in
-	 * set of attribute definitions.  Then, contents from
+	 * set of attribute definitions, followed by the contents
+	 * of $(prefix)/etc/gitattributes and a file specified by
+	 * core.attributesfile.  Then, contents from
 	 * .gitattribute files from directories closer to the
 	 * root to the ones in deeper directories are pushed
 	 * to the stack.  Finally, at the very top of the stack
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5601e8bac9..c5b3a4145f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -282,7 +282,15 @@ GIT_PARSE_WITH(iconv))
 GIT_PARSE_WITH_SET_MAKE_VAR(gitconfig, ETC_GITCONFIG,
 			Use VALUE instead of /etc/gitconfig as the
 			global git configuration file.
-			If VALUE is not fully qualified it will be interpretted
+			If VALUE is not fully qualified it will be interpreted
+			as a path relative to the computed prefix at runtime.)
+
+#
+# Allow user to set ETC_GITATTRIBUTES variable
+GIT_PARSE_WITH_SET_MAKE_VAR(gitattributes, ETC_GITATTRIBUTES,
+			Use VALUE instead of /etc/gitattributes as the
+			global git attributes file.
+			If VALUE is not fully qualified it will be interpreted
 			as a path relative to the computed prefix at runtime.)
 
 #
diff --git a/t/t0003-attributes.sh b/t/t0003-attributes.sh
index 53bd7fcc4a..a7e24edf5b 100755
--- a/t/t0003-attributes.sh
+++ b/t/t0003-attributes.sh
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 		echo "d/* test=a/b/d/*"
 		echo "d/yes notest"
 	) >a/b/.gitattributes
+	(
+		echo "global test=global"
+	) >$HOME/global-gitattributes
 
 '
 
@@ -57,6 +60,16 @@ test_expect_success 'attribute test' '
 
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'core.attributesfile' '
+	attr_check global unspecified &&
+	git config core.attributesfile "$HOME/global-gitattributes" &&
+	attr_check global global &&
+	git config core.attributesfile "~/global-gitattributes" &&
+	attr_check global global &&
+	echo "global test=precedence" >> .gitattributes &&
+	attr_check global precedence
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'attribute test: read paths from stdin' '
 
 	cat <<EOF > expect